The Grammar of English Grammars
by
Gould Brown
Part 39 out of 54
To pine | on the stem!
Since the love | -ly are sleep | -_~ing_,
Go, sleep | thou with them;
Thus kind | -ly I scat | -_t~er_
Thy leaves | o'er thy bed,
Where thy mates | of the gar | -_d~en_
Lie scent | -less and dead.
3.
So, soon | may I fol | -_l~ow_,
When friend | -ships decay,
And, from love's | shining cir | -_cl~e_,
The gems | drop away;
When true | hearts lie with | -_~er'd_,
And fond | ones are flown,
Oh! who | would inhab | -_it_
This bleak | world alone ?"
T. MOORE: _Melodies, Songs, and Airs_, p. 171.
_Example V.--Nemesis Calling up the Dead Astarte_.
"Shadow! | or spir | -_~it!_
Whatev | -er thou art,
Which still | doth inher | -_~it_
The whole | or a part
Of the form | of thy birth,
Of the mould | of thy clay,
Which return'd | to the earth,
Re-appear | to the day!
Bear what | thou bor | -_~est_,
The heart | and the form,
And the as | -pect thou wor | -_~est_
Redeem | from the worm!
Appear!--Appear!--Appear!"
LORD BYRON: _Manfred_, Act ii, Sc. 4.
_Example VI.--Anapestic Dimeter with Trimeter_.
FIRST VOICE.
"Make room | for the com | -bat, make room;
Sound the trum | -pet and drum;
A fair | -er than Ve | -nus prepares
To encoun | -ter a great | -er than Mars.
Make room | for the com | -bat, make room;
Sound the trum | -pet and drum."
SECOND VOICE.
"Give the word | to begin,
Let the com | -batants in,
The chal | -lenger en | -ters all _glo | r~io~us_;
But Love | has decreed,
Though Beau | -ty may bleed,
Yet Beau | -ty shall still | be vic_to | -r~io~us_."
GEORGE GRANVILLE: _Johnson's British Poets_, Vol. v, p. 58.
_Example VII.--Anapestic Dimeter with Tetrameter_.
AIR.
"Let the pipe's | merry notes | aid the skill | of the voice;
For our wish | -es are crown'd, | and our hearts | shall rejoice.
Rejoice, | and be glad;
For, sure, | he is mad,
Who, where mirth, | and good hum | -mour, and har | -mony's found,
Never catch | -es the smile, | nor lets pleas | -ure go round.
Let the stu | -pid be grave,
'Tis the vice | of the slave;
But can nev | -er agree
With a maid | -en like me,
Who is born | in a coun | -try that's hap | -py and free."
LLOYD: _Johnson's British Poets_, Vol. viii, p, 178.
MEASURE IV.--ANAPESTIC OF ONE FOOT, OR MONOMETER.
This measure is rarely if ever used except in connexion with longer lines.
The following example has six anapestics of two feet, and two of one; but
the latter, being verses of double rhyme, have each a surplus short
syllable; and four of the former commence with the iambus:--
_Example I.--A Song in a Drama._
"Now, mor |-tal, prepare,
For thy fate | is at hand;
Now, mor |-tal, prepare,
~And s~urr=en |-d~er.
For Love | shall arise,
Whom no pow'r | can withstand,
Who rules | from the skies
T~o th~e c=en |-tr~e."
GRANVILLE, VISCOUNT LANSDOWNE: _Joh. Brit. Poets_, Vol. v, p. 49.
The following extract, (which is most properly to be scanned as anapestic,
though considerably diversified,) has two lines, each of which is pretty
evidently composed of a single anapest:--
_Example II.--A Chorus in the Same_.
"Let trum |-pets and tym |-b~als,
Let at~a |--bals and cym |-b~als,
Let drums | and let haut |-boys give o |-v~er;
B~ut l~et fl=utes,
And l~et l=utes
Our pas |-sions excite
To gent |-ler delight,
And ev |-ery Mars | be a lov |-~er."
_Ib._, p. 56.
OBSERVATIONS.
OBS. 1.--That a single anapest, a single foot of any kind, or even a single
long syllable, may be, and sometimes is, in certain rather uncommon
instances, set as a line, is not to be denied. "Dr. Caustic," or T. G.
Fessenden, in his satirical "Directions for _Doing_ Poetry," uses in this
manner the monosyllables, "_Whew_," "_Say_," and "_Dress_" and also the
iambs, "_The gay_" and, "_All such_," rhyming them with something less
isolated.
OBS. 2.--Many of our grammarians give anonymous examples of what they
conceive to be "_Anapestic Monometer_," or "_the line of one anapest_,"
while others--(as Allen, Bullions, Churchill, and Hiley--) will have the
length of two anapests to be the _shortest_ measure of this order. Prof.
Hart says, "The shortest anapaestic verse is a _single_ anapaest; as,
'~In =a sw=eet
R~es~on=ance,
~All th~eir f=eet
~In th=e d=ance
~All th=e n=ight
T~inkl~ed l=ight.'
This measure," it is added, "is, however, _ambiguous_; for by laying an
accent on the first, as well as the third syllable, we may generally make
it a trochaic."--_Hart's English Gram._, p. 188. The same six versicles are
used as an example by Prof. Fowler, who, without admitting any ambiguity in
the measure, introduces them, rather solecistically, thus: "_Each_ of the
following lines _consist_ of a single Anapest."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo,
1850, Sec.694.
OBS. 3.--Verses of three syllables, with the second short, the last long,
and the first _common, or variable_, are, it would seem, _doubly doubtful_
in scansion; for, while the first syllable, if made short, gives us an
anapest, to make it long, gives either an amphimac or what is virtually two
trochees. For reasons of choice in the latter case, see Observation 1st on
Trochaic Dimeter. For the _fixing of variable quantities_, since the case
admits no other rule, regard should be had to the _analogy of the verse_,
and also to the common principles of accentuation. It is doubtless possible
to read the six short lines above, into the measure of so many _anapests_;
but, since the two monosyllables "_In_" and "_All_" are as easily made long
as short, whoever considers the common pronunciation of the longer words,
"_Resonance_" and "_Tinkled_," may well doubt whether the learned
professors have, in this instance, hit upon the right mode of scansion. The
example may quite as well be regarded either as Trochaic Dimeter,
cataletic, or as Amphimacric Monometer, acatalectic. But the word
_resonance_, being accented usually on the first syllable only, is
naturally a _dactyl_; and, since the other five little verses end severally
with a monosyllable, which _can_ be varied in quantity, it is possible to
read them all as being _dactylics_; and so the whole may be regarded as
_trebly doubtful_ with respect to the measure.
OBS. 4.--L. Murray says, "_The shortest anapaestic verse must be a single
anapaest_; as,
B~ut ~in v=ain
They complain."
And then he adds, "This measure is, however, ambiguous; for, by laying the
stress of the voice on the first and third syllables, we _might make_ a
trochaic. _And therefore_ the first and simplest form of our genuine
Anapaestic verse, is made up of _two anapaests_."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p.
257; 12mo, p. 207. This conclusion is utterly absurd, as well as completely
contradictory to his first assertion. The genuineness of this small metre
depends not at all on what may be made of the same words by other
pronunciation; nor can it be a very natural reading of this passage, that
gives to "_But_" and "_They_" such emphasis as will make them long.
OBS. 5.--Yet Chandler, in his improved grammar of 1847, has not failed to
repeat the substance of all this absurdity and self-contradiction,
carefully dressing it up in other language, thus: "Verses composed of
single Anapaests _are frequently found_ in stanzas of songs; and the same is
true of several of the other kinds of feet; _but we may consider the first_
[i.e., shortest] _form_ of anapaestic verse as consisting of _two_
Anapaests."--_Chandler's Common School Gram._, p. 196.
OBS. 6.--Everett, speaking of anapestic lines, says, "The first and
shortest of these is composed of a _single Anapest following an
Iambus_."--_English Versification_, p. 99. This not only denies the
existence of _Anapestic Monometer_, but improperly takes for the Anapestic
verse what is, by the statement itself, half Iambic, and therefore of the
Composite Order. But the false assertion is plainly refuted even by the
author himself and on the same page. For, at the bottom of the page, he has
this contradictory note: "It has been remarked (Sec.15) that though the Iambus
with an additional short syllable _is the shortest line that is known_ to
Iambic verse, _there are isolated instances of a single Iambus_, and even
of a _single long syllable_. There are examples of _lines made up of a
single Anapest_, as the following example will show:--
'Jove in his chair,
Of the sky lord mayor,
With his nods
Men and gods
Keeps in awe;
When he winks,
Heaven shrinks;
* * * *
Cock of the school,
He bears despotic rule;
His word,
Though absurd,
Must be law.
Even Fate,
Though so great,
Must not prate;
His bald pate
Jove would cuff,
He's so bluff,
For a straw.
Cowed deities,
Like mice in cheese,
To stir must cease
Or gnaw.'
O'HARA:--_Midas_, Act i, Sc. 1."--_Everett's Versification_, p. 99
ORDER IV.--DACTYLIC VERSE.
In pure Dactylic verse, the stress is laid on the first syllable of each
successive three; that is, on the first, the fourth, the seventh, and the
tenth syllable of each line of four feet. Full dactylic generally forms
triple rhyme. When one of the final short syllables is omitted, the rhyme
is double; when both, single. These omissions are here essential to the
formation of such rhymes. Dactylic with double rhyme, ends virtually with a
_trochee_; dactylic with single rhyme, commonly ends with a _caesura_; that
is, with a long syllable taken for a foot. Dactylic with single rhyme is
the same as anapestic would be without its initial short syllables.
Dactylic verse is rather uncommon; and, when employed, is seldom perfectly
pure and regular.
MEASURE I.--DACTYLIC OF EIGHT FEET, OR OCTOMETER.
_Example.--Nimrod._
Nimrod the | hunter was | mighty in | hunting, and | famed as the
| ruler of | cities of | yore;
Babel, and | Erech, and | Accad, and | Calneh, from | Shinar's fair
| region his | name afar | bore.
MEASURE II.--DACTYLIC OF SEVEN FEET, OR HEPTAMETER.
_Example.--Christ's Kingdom._
Out of the | kingdom of | Christ shall be | gathered, by | angels o'er
| Satan vic | -torious,
All that of |-fendeth, that | lieth, that | faileth to | honour his
| name ever | glorious.
MEASURE III.--DACTYLIC OF SIX FEET, OR HEXAMETER.
_Example I.--Time in Motion._
Time, thou art | ever in | motion, on | wheels of the
| days, years, and | ages;
Restless as | waves of the | ocean, when | Eurus or | Boreas | rages.
_Example II.--Where, is Grand-Pre?_
"This is the | forest pri | -meval; but | where are the | hearts that be
| -neath it
Leap'd like the | roe, when he | hears in the | woodland the
| voice of the | huntsman?
Where is the | thatch-roofed | village, the | home of A | -cadian
| farmers?"
H. W. LONGFELLOW: _Evangeline_, Part i, l. 7--9.
MEASURE IV.--DACTYLIC OF FIVE FEET, OR PENTAMETER.
_Example.--Salutation to America._
"Land of the | beautiful, | beautiful, | land of the | free,
Land of the | negro-slave, | negro-slave, | land of the | chivalry,
Often my | heart had turned, | heart had turned, | longing to | thee;
Often had | mountain-side, | mountain-side, | broad lake, and | stream,
Gleamed on my | waking thought, | waking thought, | crowded my | dream.
Now thou dost | welcome me, | welcome me, | from the dark | sea,
Land of the | beautiful, | beautiful, | land of the | free,
Land of the | negro-slave, | negro-slave, | land of the | chivalry."
MEASURE V.--DACTYLIC OF FOUR FEET, OR TETRAMETER.
_Example 1--The Soldier's Wife._
"Weary way |-wanderer, | languid and | sick at heart,
Travelling | painfully | over the | rugged road,
Wild-visaged | Wanderer! | God help thee, | wretched one!
Sorely thy | little one | drags by thee | barefooted;
Cold is the | baby that | hangs at thy | bending back,
Meagre, and | livid, and | screaming for | misery.
Woe-begone | mother, half | anger, half | agony,
Over thy | shoulder thou | lookest to | hush the babe,
Bleakly the | blinding snow | beats in thy | haggard face.
Ne'er will thy | husband re | -turn from the | war again,
Cold is thy | heart, and as | frozen as | Charity!
Cold are thy | children.--Now | God be thy | comforter!"
ROBERT SOUTHEY: _Poems_, Philad., 1843, p. 250.
_Example II.--Boys.--A Dactylic Stanza_.
"Boys will an | -ticipate, | lavish, and | dissipate
All that your | busy pate | hoarded with | care;
And, in their | foolishness, | passion, and | mulishness,
Charge you with | churlishness, | spurning your pray'r."
_Example III--"Labour."--The First of Five Stanzas_.
"Pause not to | dream of the | future be | -fore us;
Pause not to | weep the wild | cares that come | o'er us:
Hark, how Cre | -ation's deep, | musical | chorus,
Uninter | -mitting, goes | up into | Heaven!
Never the | ocean-wave | falters in | flowing;
Never the | little seed | stops in its | growing;
More and more | richly the | rose-heart keeps | glowing,
Till from its | nourishing | stem it is | riven."
FRANCES S. OSGOOD: _Clapp's Pioneer_, p. 94.
_Example IV.--"Boat Song."--First Stanza of Four._
"Hail to the | chief who in | triumph ad | -vances!
Honour'd and | bless'd be the | ever-green | pine!
Long may the | tree in his | banner that | glances,
Flourish, the | shelter and | grace of our | line!
Heaven send it happy dew,
Earth lend it sap anew,
Gayly to | bourgeon, and | broadly to | grow,
While ev'ry | Highland glen
Sends our shout | back agen,
'Roderigh Vich Alpine Dhu, ho! ieroe!'"
WALTER SCOTT: _Lady of the Lake_, C. ii, St. 19.
MEASURE VI.--DACTYLIC OF THREE FEET, OR TRIMETER.
_Example.--To the Katydid._
"Ka-ty-did, | Ka-ty-did, | sweetly sing,--
Sing to thy | loving mates | near to thee;
Summer is | come, and the | trees are green,--
Summer's glad | season so | dear to thee.
Cheerily, | cheerily, | insect, sing;
Blithe be thy | notes in the | hickory;
Every | bough shall an | answer ring,
Sweeter than | trumpet of | victory."
MEASURE VII.--DACTYLIC OF TWO FEET, OR DIMETER.
_Example I.--The Bachelor.--Four Lines from Many._
"Free from sa | -tiety,
Care, and anx | -iety,
Charms in va | -riety,
Fall to his | share."--ANON.: _Newspaper_.
_Example II.--The Pibroch.--Sixteen Lines from Forty._
"Pibroch of | Donuil Dhu,
Pibroch of | Donuil,
Wake thy wild | voice anew.
Summon Clan | -Conuil.
Come away, | come away!
Hark to the | summons!
Come in your | war-array,
Gentles and | commons!
"Come as the | winds come, when
Forests are | rended;
Come as the | waves come, when
Navies are | stranded;
Faster come, | faster come,
Faster and | faster!
Chief, vassal, | page, and groom,
Tenant and | master."--W. SCOTT.
_Example III.--"My Boy."_
_'There is even a happiness that makes the heart afraid.'_--HOOD.
1.
"One more new | claimant for
Human fra | -ternity,
Swelling the | flood that sweeps
On to e | -ternity;
I who have | filled the cup,
Tremble to | think of it;
For, be it | what it may,
I must yet | drink of it.
2.
Room for him | into the
Ranks of hu |-manity;
Give him a | place in your
Kingdom of | vanity!
Welcome the | stranger with
Kindly af |-fection;
Hopefully, | trustfully,
Not with de |-jection.
3.
See, in his | waywardness
How his fist | doubles;
Thus pugi |-listical,
Daring life's | troubles:
Strange that the | neophyte
Enters ex |-istence
In such an | attitude,
Feigning re |-sistance.
4.
Could he but | have a glimpse
Into fu |-turity,
Well might he | fight against
Farther ma |-turity;
Yet does it | seem to me
As if his | purity
Were against | sinfulness
Ample se |-curity.
5.
Incompre |-hensible,
Budding im |-mortal,
Thrust all a |-mazedly
Under life's | portal;
Born to a | destiny
Clouded in | mystery,
Wisdom it |-self cannot
Guess at its | history.
6.
Something too | much of this
Timon-like | croaking;
See his face | wrinkle now,
Laughter pro |-voking.
Now he cries | lustily--
Bravo, my | hearty one!
Lungs like an | orator
Cheering his | party on.
7.
Look how his | merry eyes
Turn to me | pleadingly!
Can we help | loving him--
Loving ex |-ceedingly?
Partly with | hopefulness,
Partly with | fears,
Mine, as I | look at him,
Moisten with | tears.
8.
Now then to | find a name;--
Where shall we | search for it?
Turn to his | ancestry,
Or to the | church for it?
Shall we en |-dow him with
Title he |-roic,
After some | warrior,
Poet, or | stoic?
9.
One aunty | says he will
Soon 'lisp in | numbers,'
Turning his | thoughts to rhyme,
E'en in his | slumbers;
Watts rhymed in | babyhood,
No blemish | spots his fame--
Christen him | even so:
Young Mr. | Watts his name."
ANONYMOUS: _Knickerbocker_, and _Newspapers_, 1849.
MEASURE VIII.--DACTYLIC OF ONE FOOT, OR MONOMETER.
"Fearfully,
Tearfully."
OBSERVATIONS.
OBS. 1.--A single dactyl, set as a line, can scarcely be used otherwise
than as part of a stanza, and in connexion with longer verses. The initial
accent and triple rhyme make it necessary to have something else with it.
Hence this short measure is much less common than the others, which are
accented differently. Besides, the line of three syllables, as was noticed
in the observations on Anapestic Monometer, is often peculiarly uncertain
in regard to the measure which it should make. A little difference in the
laying of emphasis or accent may, in many instances, change it from one
species of verse to an other. Even what seems to be dactylic of two feet,
if the last syllable be sufficiently lengthened to admit of single rhyme
with the full metre, becomes somewhat doubtful in its scansion; because, in
such case, the last foot maybe reckoned an _amphimac_, or _amphimacer_. Of
this, the following stanzas from Barton's lines "to the Gallic Eagle," (or
to Bonaparte on St. Helena,) though different from all the rest of the
piece, may serve as a specimen:--
"Far from the | _battle's shock_,
Fate hath fast | bound thee;
Chain'd to the | _rugged rock_,
Waves warring | round thee.
[Now, for] the | _trumpet's sound_,
Sea-birds are | shrieking;
Hoarse on thy | _rampart's bound_,
Billows are | breaking."
OBS. 2.--This may be regarded as verse of the Composite Order; and,
perhaps, more properly so, than as Dactylic with mere incidental
variations. Lines like those in which the questionable foot is here
Italicized, may be united with longer dactylics, and thus produce a stanza
of great beauty and harmony. The following is a specimen. It is a song,
written by I know not whom, but set to music by Dempster. The twelfth line
is varied to a different measure.
"ADDRESS TO THE SKYLARK."
"Bird of the | wilderness,
Blithesome and | cumberless,
Light be thy | matin o'er | moorland and | lea;
Emblem of | happiness,
Blest is thy | dwelling-place;
O! to a |-bide in the | desert with | thee!
"Wild is thy | lay, and loud,
Far on the | downy cloud;
Love gives it | energy, | love gave it | birth:
Where, on thy | dewy wing,
Where art thou | journeying?
Thy lay | is in heav |-en, thy love | is on earth.
"O'er moor and | mountain green,
O'er fell and | fountain sheen,
O'er the red | streamer that | heralds the | day;
Over the | cloudlet dim,
Over the | rainbow's rim,
Musical | cherub, hie, | hie thee a |-way.
"Then, when the | gloamin comes,
Low in the | heather blooms.
Sweet will thy | welcome and | bed of love | be.
Emblem of | happiness,
Blest is thy | dwelling-place;
O! to a |-bide in the | desert with | thee!"
OBS. 3.--It is observed by Churchill, (_New Gram._, p. 387,) that,
"Shakspeare has used the dactyl, as appropriate to mournful occasions." The
chief example which he cites, is the following:--
"Midnight, as |-sist our moan,
Help us to | sigh and groan
Heavily, | heavily.
Graves, yawn and | yield your dead,
Till death be | uttered
Heavily, | heavily."--_Much Ado_, V, 3
OBS. 4.--These six lines of Dactylic (or Composite) Dimeter are subjoined
by the poet to four of Trochaic Tetrameter. There does not appear to me to
be any particular adaptation of either measure to mournful subjects, more
than to others; but later instances of this metre may be cited, in which
such is the character of the topic treated. The following long example
consists of lines of two feet, most of them dactylic only; but, of the
seventy-six, there are twelve which _may_ be otherwise divided, and as many
more which _must_ be, because they commence with a short syllable.
"THE BRIDGE OF SIGHS."--BY THOMAS HOOD.
"One more un |-fortunate,
Weary of | breath,
Rashly im |-portunate,
Gone to her | death!
Take her up | tenderly,
Lift her with | care;
Fashioned so | slenderly,
Young, and so | fair!
Look at her | garments
Clinging like | cerements,
Whilst the wave | constantly
Drips from her | clothing;
Take her up | instantly,
Loving, not | loathing.
Touch her not | scornfully;
Think of her | mournfully,
Gently, and | humanly;
Not of the | stains of her:
All that re |-mains of her
Now, is pure | womanly.
Make no deep | scrutiny
Into her | mutiny,
Rash and un |-dutifull;
Past all dis |-honour,
Death has left | on her
Only the | beautiful.
Still, for all | slips of hers,--
One of Eve's | family,--
Wipe those poor | lips of hers,
Oozing so | clammily.
Loop up her | tresses,
Escaped from the comb,--
Her fair auburn tresses;
Whilst wonderment guesses,
Where was her | home?
Who was her | father?
Who was her | mother?
Had she a | sister?
Had she a | brother?
Was there a | dearer one
Yet, than all | other?
Alas, for the rarity
Of Christian charity
Under the | sun!
O, it was | pitiful!
Near a whole | city full,
Home she had | none.
Sisterly, | brotherly,
Fatherly, | motherly,
Feelings had | changed;
Love, by harsh |evidence,
Thrown from its |eminence
Even God's | providence
Seeming e |-stranged.
Where the lamps | quiver
So far in the river,
With many a light,
From window and casement,
From garret to basement,
She stood, with amazement,
Houseless, by | night.
The bleak wind of March
Made her tremble and shiver;
But not the dark arch,
Or the black-flowing river:
Mad from life's | history,
Glad to death's | mystery,
Swift to be | hurled,--
Anywhere, | anywhere,
Out of the | world!
In she plung'd | boldly,--
No matter how coldly
The rough | river ran,--
Over the | brink of it:
Picture it, | think of it,
Dissolute | man!"
_Clapp's Pioneer_, p. 54.
OBS. 5.--As each of our principal feet,--the Iambus, the Trochee, the
Anapest, and the Dactyl,--has always one, and only one long syllable; it
should follow, that, in each of our principal orders of verse,--the Iambic,
the Trochaic, the Anapestic, and the Dactylic,--any line, not diversified
by a secondary foot, must be reckoned to contain just as many feet as long
syllables. So, too, of the Amphibrach, and any line reckoned Amphibrachic.
But it happens, that the common error by which single-rhymed Trochaics have
so often been counted a foot _shorter_ than they are, is also extended by
some writers to single-rhymed Dactylics--the rhyming syllable, if long,
being esteemed _supernumerary!_ For example, three dactylic stanzas, in
each of which a pentameter couplet is followed by a hexameter line, and
this again by a heptameter, are introduced by Prof. Hart thus: "The
_Dactylic Tetrameter, Pentameter_, and _Hexameter_, with the _additional_
or _hypermeter syllable_, are all found combined in the following
extraordinary specimen of versification. * * * This is the only specimen of
Dactylic _hexameter_ or even _pentameter_ verse that the author recollects
to have seen."
LAMENT OF ADAM.
"Glad was our | meeting: thy | glittering | bosom I | _heard_,
Beating on | mine, like the | heart of a | timorous | _bird_;
Bright were thine | eyes as the | stars, and their | glances were
| radiant as | _gleams_
Falling from | eyes of the | angels, when | singing by | Eden's pur
|-pureal | _streams._
"Happy as | seraphs were | we, for we | wander'd a | -_lone_,
Trembling with | passionate | thrills, when the | twilight had
| _flown_:
Even the | echo was | silent: our | kisses and | whispers of | _love_
Languish'd un | -heard and un | -known, like the | breath of the
| blossoming | buds of the | _grove._
"Life hath its | pleasures, but | fading are | they as the | _flowers_;
Sin hath its | sorrows, and | sadly we | turn'd from those | _bowers_;
Bright were the | angels be | -hind with their | falchions of
| heavenly | _flame!_
Dark was the | desolate | desert be | -fore us, and | darker the
| depth of our | _shame!_"
--HENRY B. HIRST: _Hart's English Grammar_, p. 190.
OBS. 6.--Of Dactylic verse, our prosodists and grammarians in general have
taken but very little notice; a majority of them appearing by their
silence, to have been utterly ignorant of the whole species. By many, the
dactyl is expressly set down as an inferior foot, which they imagine is
used only for the occasional diversification of an iambic, trochaic, or
anapestic line. Thus Everett: "It is _never used_ except as a _secondary
foot_, and then in the _first place_ of the line."--_English
Versification_, p. 122. On this order of verse, Lindley Murray bestowed
only the following words: "The DACTYLIC measure being very uncommon, we
shall give only one example of one species of it:--
Fr=om th~e l~ow pl=eas~ures ~of th=is f~all~en n=at~ure,
Rise we to higher, &c."--_Gram._, 12mo, p. 207; 8vo, p. 257.
Read this example with _"we rise"_ for _"Rise we,"_ and all the poetry of
it is gone! Humphrey says, "_Dactyle_ verse is seldom used, as remarked
heretofore; but _is used occasionally_, and has three metres; viz. of 2, 3,
and 4 feet. Specimens follow. 2 feet. Free from anxiety. 3 feet. Singing
most sweetly and merrily. 4 feet. Dactylic measures are wanting in
energy."--_English Prosody_, p. 18. Here the prosodist has made his own
examples; and the last one, which unjustly impeaches all dactylics, he has
made very badly--very prosaically; for the word "_Dactylic_," though it has
three syllables, is properly no dactyl, but rather an amphibrach.
OBS. 7.--By the Rev. David Blair, this order of poetic numbers is utterly
misconceived and misrepresented. He says of it, "DACTYLIC verse consists of
a _short syllable_, with one, two, or three feet, _and a long syllable_;
as,
'D~istr=act~ed w~ith w=oe,
'I'll r=ush ~on th~e f=oe.' ADDISON."--_Blair's Pract. Gram._, p. 119.
"'Y~e sh=eph~erds s~o ch=eerf~ul ~and g=ay,
'Wh~ose fl=ocks n~ev~er c=arel~essl~y r=oam;
'Sh~ould C=or~yd~on's h=app~en t~o str=ay,
'Oh! c=all th~e p=oor w=and~er~ers h=ome.' SHENSTONE."--_Ib._, p. 120.
It is manifest, that these lines are not dactylic at all. There is not a
dactyl in them. They are composed of iambs and anapests. The order of the
versification is Anapestic; but it is here varied by the very common
diversification of dropping the first short syllable. The longer example is
from a ballad of 216 lines, of which 99 are thus varied, and 117 are full
anapestics.
OBS. 8.--The makers of school-books are quite as apt to copy blunders, as
to originate them; and, when an error is once started in a grammar, as it
passes with the user for good learning, no one can guess where it will
stop. It seems worth while, therefore, in a work of this nature, to be
liberal in the citation of such faults as have linked themselves, from time
to time, with the several topics of our great subject. It is not probable,
that the false scansion just criticised originated with Blair; for the
Comprehensive Grammar, a British work, republished in its third edition, by
Dobson, of Philadelphia, in 1789, teaches the same doctrine, thus:
"Dactylic measure may consist of one, two, or three Dactyls, introduced by
a feeble syllable, and terminated by a strong one; as,
M~y | d=ear Ir~ish | f=olks,
C=ome | l=eave ~off y~our | j=okes,
And | b=uy ~up m~y | h=alfp~ence s~o | f=ine;
S~o | f=air ~and s~o | br=ight,
Th~ey'll | g=ive y~ou d~e | -l=ight:
Ob | -s=erve h~ow th~ey | gl=ist~er ~and | sh=ine. SWIFT.
A | c=obl~er th~ere | w=as ~and h~e | l=iv'd ~in ~a | st=all,
Wh~ich | s=erv'd h~im f~or | k=itch~en, f~or | p=arl~our ~and | hall;
N~o | c=oin ~in h~is | p=ock~et, n~o | c=are ~in h~is | p=ate;
N~o ~am | -b=it~ion h~e | h=ad, ~and n~o | d=uns ~at h~is | g=ate."
--_Comp. Gram._, p. 150.
To this, the author adds, "Dactylic measure becomes Anapestic by setting
off an Iambic foot in the beginning of the line."--_Ib._ These verses, all
but the last one, unquestionably have an iambic foot at the beginning; and,
for that reason, they are not, and by no measurement can be, dactylics. The
last one is purely anapestic. All the divisional bars, in either example,
are placed wrong.
ORDER V.--COMPOSITE VERSE.
Composite verse is that which consists of various metres, or different
feet, combined,--not accidentally, or promiscuously, but by design, and
with some regularity. In Composite verse, of any form, the stress must be
laid rhythmically, as in the simple orders, else the composition will be
nothing better than unnatural prose. The possible variety of combinations
in this sort of numbers is unlimited; but, the pure and simple kinds being
generally preferred, any stated mixture of feet is comparatively uncommon.
Certain forms which may be scanned by other methods, are susceptible also
of division as Composites. Hence there cannot be an exact enumeration of
the measures of this order, but instances, as they occur, may be cited to
exemplify it.
_Example I.--From Swift's Irish Feast_.
"O'Rourk's | noble fare | will ne'er | be forgot,
By those | who were there, | or those | who were not.
His rev |-els to keep, | we sup | and we dine
On sev |-en score sheep, | fat bul |-locks, and swine.
Usquebaugh | to our feast | in pails | was brought up,
An hun |-dred at least, | and a mad |-der our cup.
O there | is the sport! | we rise | with the light,
In disor |-derly sort, | from snor |-ing all night.
O how | was I trick'd! | my pipe | it was broke,
My pock |-et was pick'd, | I lost | my new cloak.
I'm ri |-fled, quoth Nell, | of man |-tle and kerch |-_er_:
Why then | fare them well, | the de'il | take the search |-_er_."
_Johnson's Works of the Poets_, Vol. v, p. 310.
Here the measure is tetrameter; and it seems to have been the design of the
poet, that each hemistich should consist of one iamb and one anapest. Such,
with a few exceptions, is the arrangement throughout the piece; but the
hemistichs which have double rhyme, _may_ each be divided into two
amphibrachs. In Everett's Versification, at p. 100, the first six lines of
this example are broken into twelve, and set in three stanzas, being given
to exemplify "_The Line of a single Anapest preceded by an Iambus_," or
what he improperly calls "The first and shortest species of Anapestic
lines." His other instance of the same metre is also _Composite_ verse,
rather than Anapestic, even by his own showing. "In the following example,"
says he, "we have this measure alternating with Amphibrachic lines:"
_Example II.--From Byron's Manfred._
"The Captive Usurper,
Hurl'd down | from the throne.
Lay buried in torpor,
Forgotten and lone;
I broke through his slumbers,
I shiv |-er'd his chain,
I leagued him with numbers--
He's Ty |-rant again!
With the blood | of a mill |-ion he'll an |-swer my care,
With a na |-tion's destruc |-tion--his flight | and despair."
--Act ii, Sc. 3.
Here the last two lines, which are not cited by Everett, are pure anapestic
tetrameters; and it may be observed, that, if each two of the short lines
were printed as one, the eight which are here scanned otherwise, would
become four of the same sort, except that these would each begin with an
iambus. Hence the specimen _sounds_ essentially as anapestic verse.
_Example III.--Woman on the Field of Battle_.
"Gentle and | lovely form,
What didst | thou here,
When the fierce | battle storm
Bore down | the spear?
Banner and | shiver'd crest,
Beside | thee strown,
Tell that a |-midst the best
Thy work was done!
Low lies the | stately head,
Earth-bound | the free:
How gave those | haughty dead
A place | to thee?
Slumb'rer! thine | early bier
Friends should | have crown'd,
Many a |flow'r and tear
Shedding | around.
Soft voices, | dear and young,
Mingling | their swell,
Should o'er thy | dust have sung
Earth's last | farewell.
Sisters a |-bove the grave
Of thy | repose
Should have bid | vi'lets wave
With the | white rose.
Now must the | trumpet's note.
Savage | and shrill,
For requi'm | o'er thee float,
Thou fair | and still!
And the swift | charger sweep,
In full | career,
Trampling thy | place of sleep--
Why cam'st | thou here?
Why?--Ask the | true heart why
Woman | hath been
Ever, where | brave men die,
Unshrink |-ing seen.
Unto this | harvest ground,
Proud reap |-ers came,
Some for that | stirring sound,
A warr |-ior's name:
Some for the | stormy play,
And joy | of strife,
And some to | fling away
A wea |-ry life.
But thou, pale | sleeper, thou,
With the | slight frame,
And the rich | locks, whose glow
Death can |-not tame;
Only one | thought, one pow'r,
_Thee_ could | have led,
So through the | tempest's hour
To lift | thy head!
Only the | true, the strong,
The love | whose trust
Woman's deep | soul too long
Pours on | the dust."
HEMANS: _Poetical Works_, Vol. ii, p. 157.
Here are fourteen stanzas of composite dimeter, each having two sorts of
lines; the first sort consisting, with a few exceptions, of a dactyl and an
amphimac; the second, mostly, of two iambs; but, in some instances, of a
trochee and an iamb;--the latter being, in such a connexion, much the more
harmonious and agreeable combination of quantities.
_Example IV.--Airs from a "Serenata."_
Air 1.
"Love sounds | the alarm,
And fear | is a-fly~ing;
When beau |-ty's the prize,
What mor |-tal fears dy |-~ing?
In defence | of my treas |-~ure,
I'd bleed | at each vein;
Without | her no pleas |-ure;
For life | is a pain."
Air 2.
"Consid |-er, fond shep |-h~erd,
How fleet |-ing's the pleas |-~ure,
That flat |-ters our hopes
In pursuit | of the fair:
The joys | that attend | ~it,
By mo |-ments we meas |-~ure;
But life | is too lit |-tle
To meas |-ure our care."
GAY'S POEMS: _Johnson's Works of the Poets_, VoL vii, p. 378.
These verses are essentially either anapestic or amphibrachic. The anapest
divides two of them in the middle; the amphibrach will so divide eight. But
either division will give many iambs. By the present scansion, the _first
foot_ is an iamb in all of them but the two anapestics.
_Example V.--"The Last Leaf."_
1.
"I saw | him once | before
As he pass |-~ed by | the door,
And again
The pave |-ment stones | resound
As he tot |-ters o'er | the ground
With his cane.
2.
They say | that in | his prime,
Ere the prun |-ing knife of Time
Cut him down,
Not a bet |-ter man | was found
By the cri |-er on | his round
Through the town.
3.
But now | he walks | the streets,
And he looks | at all | he meets
So forlorn;
And he shakes | his fee |-ble head,
That it seems | as if | he said,
They are gone.
4.
The mos |-sy mar |-bles rest
On the lips | that he | has press'd
In their bloom;
And the names | he lov'd | to hear
Have been carv'd | for man |-y a year
On the tomb.
5.
My grand |-mamma | has said,--
Poor old La |-dy! she | is dead
Long ago,--
That he had | a Ro |-man nose,
And his cheek | was like | a rose
In the snow.
6.
But now | his nose | is thin,
And it rests | upon | his chin
Like a staff;
And a crook | is in | his back
And a mel |-anchol |-y crack
In his laugh.
7.
I know | it is | a sin
For me [thus] | to sit | and grin
At him here;
But the old | three-cor |-ner'd hat,
And the breech |-es, and | all that,
Are so queer!
8.
And if I | should live | to be
The last leaf | upon | the tree
In the spring,--
Let them smile, | as I | do now,
At the old | forsak |-en bough
Where I cling."
OLIVER W. HOLMES: _The Pioneer_, 1843, p. 108.
OBSERVATIONS.
OBS. 1.--Composite verse, especially if the lines be short, is peculiarly
liable to uncertainty, and diversity of scansion; and that which does not
always abide by one chosen order of quantities, can scarcely be found
agreeable; it must be more apt to puzzle than to please the reader. The
eight stanzas of this last example, have eight lines of _iambic trimeter_;
and, since seven times in eight, this metre holds the first place in the
stanza, it is a double fault, that one such line seems strayed from its
proper position. It would be better to prefix the word _Now_ to the fourth
line, and to mend the forty-third thus:--
"And should | I live | to be"--
The trissyllabic feet of this piece, as I scan it, are numerous; being the
sixteen short lines of monometer, and the twenty-four initial feet of the
lines of seven syllables. Every one of the forty--(except the thirty-sixth,
"_The_ last leaf"--) begins with a monosyllable which may be varied in
quantity; so that, with stress laid on this monosyllable, the foot becomes
an _amphimac_; without such stress, an _anapest_.
OBS. 2.--I incline to read this piece as composed of iambs and anapests;
but E. A. Poe, who has commended "the effective harmony of these lines,"
and called the example "an excellently well conceived and well managed
specimen of versification," counts many syllables long, which such a
reading makes short, and he also divides all but the iambics in a way quite
different from mine, thus: "Let us scan the first stanza.
'I s=aw | h~im =once | b~ef=ore
As h~e | p=ass~ed | b=y th~e | d=oor,
And ~a- | g=ain
Th~e p=ave- | m~ent st=ones | r~es=ound
As h~e | t=ott~ers | =o'er th~e | gr=ound
W=ith h~is c=ane.'
This," says he, "is the general scansion of the poem. We have first three
iambuses. The second line shifts the _rhythm_ into the _trochaic_, giving
us three trochees, with a caesura equivalent, in this case, to a trochee.
The third line is a trochee and equivalent caesura."--POE'S NOTES UPON
ENGLISH VERSE: _Pioneer_, p. 109. These quantities are the same as those by
which the whole piece is made to consist of iambs and amphimacs.
OBS. 3.--In its _rhythmical effect_ upon the ear, a supernumerary short
syllable at the end of a line, may sometimes, perhaps, compensate for the
want of such a syllable at the beginning of the next line, as may be seen
in the fourth example above; but still it is unusual, and seems improper,
to suppose such syllables to belong to the scansion of the subsequent line;
for the division of lines, with their harmonic pauses, is greater than the
division of feet, and implies that no foot can ever actually be split by
it. Poe has suggested that the division into lines may be disregarded in
scanning, and sometimes must be. He cites for an example the beginning of
Byron's "Bride of Abydos,"--a passage which has been admired for its easy
flow, and which, he says, has greatly puzzled those who have attempted to
scan it. Regarding it as essentially anapestic tetrameter, yet as having
some initial iambs, and the first and fifth lines dactylic, I shall here
divide it accordingly, thus:--
"Kn=ow y~e th~e | l=and wh~ere th~e | c=ypr~ess ~and | m=yrtl~e
Ar~e =em | -bl~ems ~of d=eeds | th~at ~are d=one
| ~in th~eir cl=ime--
Where the rage | of the vul | -ture, the love | of the tur | -tle,
Now melt | into soft | -ness, now mad | -den to crime?
Know ye the | land of the | cedar and | vine.
Where the flow'rs | ever blos | -som, the beams | ever shine,
And the light | wings of Zeph | -yr, oppress'd | with perfume,
Wax faint | o'er the gar | -dens of Gul | in her bloom?
Where the cit | -ron and ol | -ive are fair | -est of fruit,
And the voice | of the night | -ingale nev | -er is mute?
Where the vir | -gins are soft as the ros | -es they twine,
And all, | save the spir | -it of man, | is divine?
'Tis the land | of the East- | 't is the clime | of the Sun--
Can he smile | on such deeds | as his chil | -dren have done?
Oh, wild | as the ac | -cents of lov | -ers' farewell,
Are the hearts | that they bear, | and the tales | that they tell."
OBS. 4.--These lines this ingenious prosodist divides not thus, but,
throwing them together like prose unpunctuated, finds in them "a regular
succession of _dactylic rhythms_, varied only at three points by equivalent
_spondees_, and separated into two distinct divisions by equivalent
terminating _caesuras_." He imagines that, "By all who have ears--not over
long--this will be acknowledged as the true and the sole true
scansion."--_E. A. Poe: Pioneer_, p. 107. So it may, for aught I know; but,
having dared to show there is an other way quite as simple and plain, and
less objectionable, I submit both to the judgement of the reader:--
"Kn=ow y~e th~e | l=and wh~ere th~e | c=ypr~ess ~and | m=yrtl~e ~are |
=embl~ems ~of | d=eeds th~at ~are | d=one ~in th~eir | cl=ime wh~ere th~e |
r=age ~of th~e | v=ult~ure th~e | l=ove ~of th~e | t=urtl~e n~ow | m=elt
~int~o | s=oftn~ess n~ow | madd~en t~o | _crime_. Kn=ow y~e th~e | l=and
~of th~e | c=ed~ar ~and | v=ine wh~ere th~e | fl=ow'rs ~ev~er | bl=oss~om
th~e | b=eams ~ev~er | sh=ine wh~ere th=e | l=ight w~ings =of | z=eph=yr
~op | -pr=ess'd w~ith p~er | -_f=ume w=ax_ | f=aint ~o'er th~e | g=ard~ens
~of | G=ul ~in h~er | bl=oom wh~ere th~e | c=itr~on ~and | =oli~ve ~are |
f=air~est ~of | fr=uit ~and th~e | v=oice ~of th~e | n=ight~ing~ale |
n=ev~er ~is | m=ute wh~ere th~e | v=irg~ins ~are | s=oft ~as th~e | r=os~es
th~ey | _tw=ine =and_ | =all s~ave th~e | sp=ir~it ~of | m=an ~is d~i- |
v=ine 't~is th~e | l=and ~of th~e | E=ast 't~is th~e | cl=im~e ~of th~e |
S=un c~an h~e | sm=ile ~on s~uch | d=eeds ~as h~is | ch=ildr~en h~ave |
_d~one =oh_ w=ild ~as th~e | =acc~ents ~of | l=ov~ers' f~are- | w=ell ~are
th~e | h=earts th~at th~ey | be=ar and th~e | t=ales th~at th~ey |
_t=ell_."--_Ib._
OBS. 5.--In the sum and proportion of their quantities, the anapest, the
dactyl, and the amphibrach, are equal, each having two syllables short to
one long; and, with two short quantities between two long ones, lines may
be tolerably accordant in rhythm, though the order, at the commencement, be
varied, and their number of syllables be not equal. Of the following
sixteen lines, nine are pure anapestic tetrameters; one _may_ be reckoned
dactylic, but it may quite as well be said to have a trochee, an iambus,
and two anapests or two amphimacs; one is a spondee and three anapests; and
the rest _may_ be scanned as amphibrachics ending with an iambus, but are
more properly anapestics commencing with an iambus. Like the preceding
example from Byron, they lack the uniformity of proper composites, and are
rather to be regarded as anapestics irregularly diversified.
THE ALBATROSS.
"'Tis said the Albatross never rests."--_Buffon_.
"Wh~ere th~e f=ath | -~oml~ess w=aves | in magnif | -icence toss,
H=omel~ess | ~and h=igh | soars the wild | Albatross;
Unwea | -ried, undaunt | -ed, unshrink | -ing, alone,
The o | -cean his em | -pire, the tem | -pest his throne.
When the ter | -rible whirl | -wind raves wild | o'er the surge,
And the hur | -ricane howls | out the mar | -iner's dirge,
In thy glo | -ry thou spurn | -est the dark | -heaving sea,
Pr=oud b=ird | of the o | -cean-world, home | -less and free.
When the winds | are at rest, | and the sun | in his glow,
And the glit | -tering tide | sleeps in beau | -ty below,
In the pride | of thy pow | -er trium | -phant above,
With thy mate | thou art hold | -ing thy rev | -els of love.
Untir | -ed, unfet | -tered, unwatched, | unconfined,
Be my spir | -it like thee, | in the world | of the mind;
No lean | -ing for earth, | e'er to wea | -ry its flight,
And fresh | as thy pin | -ions in re | -gions of light."
SAMUEL DALY LANGTREE: _North American Reader_, p. 443.
OBS. 6.--It appears that the most noted measures of the Greek and Latin
poets were not of any simple order, but either composites, or mixtures too
various to be called composites. It is not to be denied, that we have much
difficulty in reading them rhythmically, according to their stated feet and
scansion; and so we should have, in reading our own language rhythmically,
in any similar succession of feet. Noticing this in respect to the Latin
Hexameter, or Heroic verse, Poe says, "Now the discrepancy in question is
not observable in English metres; where the scansion coincides with the
reading, _so far as the rhythm is concerned_--that is to say, if we pay no
attention to the _sense_ of the passage. But these facts indicate _a
radical difference_ in the genius of the two languages, as regards their
capacity for modulation. In truth, * * * the Latin is a far more _stately_
tongue than our own. It is essentially spondaic; the English is as
essentially dactylic."--_Pioneer_, p. 110. (See the marginal note in Sec.3d.
at Obs. 22d, above.) Notwithstanding this difference, discrepance, or
difficulty, whatever it may be, some of our poets have, in a few instances,
attempted imitations of certain Latin metres; which imitations it may be
proper briefly to notice under the present head. The Greek or Latin
Hexameter line has, of course, six feet, or pulsations. According to the
Prosodies, the first four of these may be either dactyls or spondees; the
fifth is always, or nearly always, a dactyl; and the sixth, or last, is
always a spondee: as,
"L=ud~er~e | qu=ae v=el | -l=em c~al~a | -m=o p=er | -m=is~it ~a
| -gr=est=i."--_Virg._
"Inf=an- | d=um, R=e | -g=in~a, j~u | -b=es r~en~o | -v=ar~e d~o
| -l=or=em."--_Id._
Of this sort of verse, in English, somebody has framed the following very
fair example:--
"M=an ~is ~a | c=ompl=ex, | c=omp=ound | c=omp=ost, | y=et ~is h~e
| G=od-b=orn."
OBS. 7.--Of this species of versification, which may be called Mixed or
Composite Hexameter, the most considerable specimen that I have seen in
English, is Longfellow's Evangeline, a poem of one thousand three hundred
and eighty-two of these long lines, or verses. This work has found
admirers, and not a few; for, of these, nothing written by so distinguished
a scholar could fail: but, surely, not many of the verses in question
exhibit truly the feet of the ancient Hexameters; or, if they do, the
ancients contented themselves with very imperfect rhythms, even in their
noblest heroics. In short, I incline to the opinion of Poe, that, "Nothing
less than the deservedly high reputation of Professor Longfellow, could
have sufficed to give currency to his lines as to Greek Hexameters. In
general, they are neither one thing nor another. Some few of them are
dactylic verses--English dactylics. But do away with the division into
lines, and the most astute critic would never have suspected them of any
thing more than prose."--_Pioneer_, p. 111. The following are the last ten
lines of the volume, with such a division into feet as the poet is presumed
to have contemplated:--
"Still stands the | forest pri | -meval; but | under the | shade of its
| branches
Dwells an | -other | race, with | other | customs and | language.
Only a | -long the | shore of the | mournful and | misty At | -lantic
Linger a | few A | -cadian | peasants, whose | fathers from | exile
Wandered | back to their | native | land to | die in its | bosom.
In the | fisherman's | cot the | wheel and the | loom are still | busy;
Maidens still | wear their | Norman | caps and their | kirtles of
| homespun,
And by the | evening | fire re | -peat E | -vangeline's story,
While from its | rocky | caverns the | deep-voiced, | neighbouring
| ocean
Speaks, and in | accents dis | -consolate | answers the | wail of the
| forest."
HENRY W. LONGFELLOW: _Evangeline_, p. 162.
OBS. 8.--An other form of verse, common to the Greeks and Romans, which has
sometimes been imitated--or, rather, which some writers have _attempted to
imitate_--in English, is the line or stanza called Sapphic, from the
inventress, Sappho, a Greek poetess. The Sapphic verse, according to
Fabricius, Smetius, and all good authorities, has eleven syllables, making
"five feet--the first a trochee, the second a spondee, the third a dactyl,
and the fourth and fifth trochees." The Sapphic stanza, or what is
sometimes so called, consists of three Sapphic lines and an Adonian, or
Adonic,--this last being a short line composed of "a dactyl and a spondee."
Example from Horace:--
"=Int~e | -g=er v=i | -tae, sc~el~e | -r=isqu~e | p=ur~us
Non e | -get Mau | -ri jacu | -lis ne | -qu' arcu,
Nec ven | -ena | -tis gravi | -da sa | -gittis,
Fusce, pha | -retra."
To arrange eleven syllables in a line, and have half or more of them to
form trochees, is no difficult matter; but, to find _rhythm_ in the
succession of "a trochee, a spondee, and a dactyl," as we read words, seems
hardly practicable. Hence few are the English Sapphics, if there be any,
which abide by the foregoing formule of quantities and feet. Those which I
have seen, are generally, if not in every instance, susceptible of a more
natural scansion as being composed of trochees, with a dactyl, or some
other foot of three syllables, at the _beginning_ of each line. The caesural
pause falls sometimes after the fourth syllable, but more generally, and
much more agreeably, after the fifth. Let the reader inspect the following
example, and see if he do not agree with me in laying the accent on only
the first syllable of each foot, as the feet are here divided. The accent,
too, must be carefully laid. Without considerable care in the reading, the
hearer will not suppose the composition to be any thing but prose:--
"THE WIDOW."--(IN "SAPPHICS.")
"Cold was the | night-wind, | drifting | fast the | snow fell,
Wide were the | downs, and | shelter | -less and | naked,
When a poor | Wanderer | struggled | on her | journey,
Weary and | way-sore.
Drear were the | downs, more | dreary | her re | -flections;
Cold was the | night-wind, | colder | was her | bosom;
She had no | home, the | world was | all be | -fore her;
She had no | shelter.
Fast o'er the | heath a | chariot | rattlee | by her;
'Pity me!' | feebly | cried the | lonely | wanderer;
'Pity me, | strangers! | lest, with | cold and | hunger,
Here I should | perish.
'Once I had | friends,--though | now by | all for | -saken!
'Once I had | parents, | --they are | now in | heaven!
'I had a | home once, | --I had | once a | husband--
Pity me, | strangers!
'I had a | home once, | --I had | once a | husband--
'I am a | widow, | poor and | broken | -hearted!'
Loud blew the | wind; un | -heard was | her com | -plaining;
On drove the | chariot.
Then on the | snow she | laid her | down to | rest her;
She heard a | horseman; | 'Pity | me!' she | groan'd out;
Loud was the | wind; un | -heard was | her com | -plaining;
On went the | horseman.
Worn out with | anguish, | toil, and | cold, and | hunger,
Down sunk the | Wanderer; | sleep had | seized her | senses;
There did the | traveller | find her | in the | morning;
God had re | -leased her."
ROBERT SOUTHEY: _Poems_, Philad., 1843, p. 251.
Among the lyric poems of Dr. Watts, is one, entitled, "THE DAY OF
JUDGEMENT; _an Ode attempted in English Sapphic_." It is perhaps as good an
example as we have of the species. It consists of nine stanzas, of which I
shall here cite the first three, dividing them into feet as above:--
"When the fierce | North Wind, | with his | airy | forces,
Rears up the | Baltic | to a | foaming | fury;
And the red | lightning | with a | storm of | hail comes
Rushing a | -main down;
How the poor | sailors | stand a | -maz'd and | tremble!
While the hoarse | thunder, | like a bloody | trumpet,
Roars a loud | onset | to the | gaping | waters,
Quick to de | -vour them.
Such shall the | noise be, | and the | wild dis | -order,
(If things e | -ternal | may be | like these | earthly,)
Such the dire | terror, | when the | great Arch | -angel
Shakes the cre | -ation."--_Horae Lyricae_, p. 67.
"These lines," says Humphrey, who had cited the first four, "are good
English Sapphics, and contain the essential traits of the original as
nearly as the two languages, Greek and English, correspond to each other.
This stanza, together with the poem, from which this was taken, may stand
for a model, in our English compositions."--_Humphrey's E. Prosody_, p. 19.
This author erroneously supposed, that the trissyllabic foot, in any line
of the Sapphic stanza, must occupy the second place: and, judging of the
ancient feet and quantities by what he found, or supposed he found, in the
English imitations, and not by what the ancient prosodists say of them, yet
knowing that the ancient and the modern Sapphics are in several respects
unlike, he presented forms of scansion for both, which are not only
peculiar to himself, but not well adapted to either. "We have," says he,
"no established rule for this kind of verse, in our English compositions,
which has been uniformly adhered to. The rule for which, in Greek and Latin
verse, _as far as I can ascertain_, was this: = ~ | = = = | ~ ~ |= ~ | = =
a trochee, a _moloss_, a _pyrrhic_, a trochee, and [a] _spondee_; and
_sometimes, occasionally_, a trochee, instead of a spondee, at the end. But
as our language is not favourable to the use of the spondee and moloss, the
moloss is seldom or never used in our English Sapphics; but, instead of
which, some other _trissyllable_ foot is used. Also, instead of the
spondee, a trochee is commonly used; and sometimes a trochee instead of the
pyrrhic, in the third place. As some prescribed rule, or model for
imitation, may be necessary, in this case, I will cite a stanza from one of
our best English poets, which may serve for a model.
'Wh=en th~e | fi=erce n=orth-w~ind, | w~ith h~is | =air~y | f=orc~es [,]
R=ears ~up | th~e B=alt~ic | t~o ~a | f=oam~ing | f=ur~y;
And th~e | r=ed l=ightn~ing | w~ith ~a | st=orm ~of | h=ail c~omes
R=ush~ing | ~am=ain d=own.'--Watts."--_Ib._, p. 19.
OBS. 12.--In "the Works of George Canning," a small book published in 1829,
there is a poetical dialogue of nine stanzas, entitled, "The Friend of
Humanity and the Knife-Grinder," said to be "a burlesque on Mr. Southey's
Sapphics." The metre appears to be near enough like to the foregoing. But
these verses I divide, as I have divided the others, into trochees with
initial dactyls. At the commencement, the luckier party salutes the other
thus:--
"'Needy knife | -grinder! | whither | are you | going?
Rough is the | road, your | wheel is | out of | order--
Bleak blows the | blast;--your | hat has | got a | hole in't,
So have your | breeches!
'Weary knife | -grinder! | little | think the | proud ones
Who in their | coaches | roll a | -long the | turnpike--
Road, what hard | work 'tis, | crying | all day, | 'Knives and
Scissors to | grind O!'"--P. 44.
OBS. 13.--Among the humorous poems of Thomas Green Fessenden, published
under the sobriquet of Dr. Caustic, or "Christopher Caustic, M. D.," may be
seen an other comical example of Sapphics, which extends to eleven stanzas.
It describes a contra-dance, and is entitled, "Horace Surpassed." The
conclusion is as follows:--
"Willy Wagnimble dancing with Flirtilla,
Almost as light as air-balloon inflated,
Rigadoons around her, 'till the lady's heart is
Forced to surrender.
Benny Bamboozle cuts the drollest capers,
Just like a camel, or a hippopot'mus;
Jolly Jack Jumble makes as big a rout as
Forty Dutch horses.
See Angelina lead the mazy dance down;
Never did fairy trip it so fantastic;
How my heart flutters, while my tongue pronounces,
'Sweet little seraph!'
Such are the joys that flow from contra-dancing,
Pure as the primal happiness of Eden,
Love, mirth, and music, kindle in accordance
Raptures extatic."--_Poems_, p. 208.
SECTION V.--ORAL EXERCISES.
IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.
FALSE PROSODY, OR ERRORS OF METRE.
LESSON I.--RESTORE THE RHYTHM.
"The lion is laid down in his lair."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 134.
[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the word "_lion_," here put for Cowper's
word "_beast_" destroys the metre, and changes the line to prose. But,
according to the definition given on p. 827, "Verse, in opposition to
prose, is language arranged into metrical lines of some determinate length
and rhythm--language so ordered as to produce harmony by a due succession
of poetic feet." This line was composed of one iamb and two anapests; and,
to such form, it should be restored, thus: "The _beast_ is laid down in his
lair."--_Cowper's Poems_, Vol. i, p. 201.]
"Where is thy true treasure? Gold says, not in me."
--_Hallock's Gram._, 1842, p. 66.
"Canst thou grow sad, thou sayest, as earth grows bright?"
--_Frazee's Gram._, 1845, p. 140.
"It must be so, Plato, thou reasonest well."
--_Wells's Gram._, 1846, p. 122.
"Slow rises merit, when by poverty depressed."
--_Ib._, p. 195; _Hiley_, 132; _Hart_, 179.
"Rapt in future times, the bard begun."
--_Wells's Gram._, 1846, p. 153.
"Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens
To wash it white as snow? Whereunto serves mercy,
But to confront the visage of offence!"
--_Hallock's Gram._, 1842, p. 118.
"Look! in this place ran Cassius's dagger through."
--_Kames, El. of Cr._, Vol. i, p. 74.
"----When they list their lean and flashy songs,
Harsh grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw."
--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 135.
"Did not great Julius bleed for justice's sake?"
--_Dodd's Beauties of Shak._, p. 253.
"Did not great Julius bleed for justice sake?"
--_Singer's Shakspeare_, Vol. ii, p. 266.
"May I, unblam'd, express thee? Since God is light."
--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 290.
"Or hearest thou, rather, pure ethereal stream!"
--_2d Perversion, ib._
"Republics; kingdoms; empires, may decay;
Princes, heroes, sages, sink to nought."
--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 287.
"Thou bringest, gay creature as thou art,
A solemn image to my heart."
--_E. J. Hallock's Gram._, p. 197.
"Know thyself presume not God to scan;
The proper study of mankind is Man."
--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 285.
"Raised on a hundred pilasters of gold."
--_Charlemagne_, C. i, St. 40.
"Love in Adalgise's breast has fixed his sting."
--_Ib._, C. i, St. 30.
"Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November,
February twenty-eight alone,
All the rest thirty and one."
_Colet's Grammar, or Paul's Accidence_. Lond., 1793, p. 75.
LESSON II.--RESTORE THE RHYTHM.
"'Twas not the fame of what he once had been,
Or tales in old records and annals seen."
--_Rowe's Lucan_, B. i, l. 274.
"And Asia now and Afric are explor'd,
For high-priced dainties, and citron board."
--_Eng. Poets: ib._, B. i, l. 311.
"Who knows not, how the trembling judge beheld
The peaceful court with arm'd legions fill'd?"
--_Eng. Poets; ib._, B. i, l. 578.
"With thee the Scythian wilds we'll wander o'er,
With thee burning Libyan sands explore."
--_Eng. Poets: ib._, B. i, l. 661.
"Hasty and headlong different paths they tread,
As blind impulse and wild distraction lead."
--_Eng. Poets: ib._, B. i, l. 858.
"But Fate reserv'd to perform its doom,
And be the minister of wrath to Rome."
--_Eng. Poets: ib._, B. ii, l. 136.
"Thus spoke the youth. When Cato thus exprest
The sacred counsels of his most inmost breast."
--_Eng. Poets: ib._, B. ii, l. 435.
"These were the strict manners of the man,
And this the stubborn course in which they ran;
The golden mean unchanging to pursue,
Constant to keep the proposed end in view."
--_Eng. Poets: ib._, B. ii, l. 580.
"What greater grief can a Roman seize,
Than to be forc'd to live on terms like these!"
--_Eng. Poets: ib._, B. ii, l. 782.
"He views the naked town with joyful eyes,
While from his rage an arm'd people flies."
--_Eng. Poets: ib._, B. ii, l. 880.
"For planks and beams he ravages the wood,
And the tough bottom extends across the flood."
--_Eng. Poets: ib._, B. ii, l. 1040.
"A narrow pass the horned mole divides,
Narrow as that where Euripus' strong tides
Beat on Euboean Chalcis' rocky sides."
--_Eng. Poets: ib._, B. ii, l. 1095.
"No force, no fears their hands unarm'd bear,
But looks of peace and gentleness they wear."
--_Eng. Poets: ib._, B. iii, l. 112.
"The ready warriors all aboard them ride,
And wait the return of the retiring tide."
--_Eng. Poets: ib._, B. iv, l. 716.
"He saw those troops that long had faithful stood,
Friends to his cause, and enemies to good,
Grown weary of their chief, and satiated with blood."
--_Eng. Poets: ib._, B. v, l. 337.
CHAPTER V.--QUESTIONS.
ORDER OF REHEARSAL, AND METHOD OF EXAMINATION.
PART FOURTH, PROSODY.
[Fist][The following questions call the attention of the student to the
main doctrines in the foregoing code of Prosody, and embrace or demand
those facts which it is most important for him to fix in his memory; they
may, therefore, serve not only to aid the teacher in the process of
examining his classes, but also to direct the learner in his manner of
preparation for recital.]
LESSON I.--OF PUNCTUATION.
1. Of what does Prosody treat? 2. What is _Punctuation?_ 3. What are the
principal points, or marks? 4. What pauses are denoted by the first four
points? 5. What pauses are required by the other four? 6. What is the
general use of the Comma? 7. How many rules for the Comma are there, and
what are their heads? 8. What says Rule 1st of _Simple Sentences?_ 9. What
says Rule 2d of _Simple Members?_ 10. What says Rule 3d of _More than Two
Words?_ 11. What says Rule 4th of _Only Two Words?_ 12. What says Rule 5th
of _Words in Pairs?_ 13. What says Rule 6th of _Words put Absolute?_ 14.
What says Rule 7th of _Words in Apposition?_ 15. What says Rule 8th of
_Adjectives?_ 16. What says Rule 9th of _Finite Verbs?_ 17. What says Rule
10th of _Infinitives?_ 18. What says Rule 11th of _Participles?_ 19. What
says Rule 12th of _Adverbs?_ 20. What says Rule 13th of _Conjunctions?_ 21.
What says Rule 14th of _Prepositions?_ 22. What says Rule 15th of
_Interjections?_ 23. What says Rule 16th of _Words Repeated?_ 24. What says
Rule 17th of _Dependent Quotations?_
LESSON II.--OF THE COMMA.
1. How many exceptions, or forms of exception, are there to Rule 1st for
the comma? 2.--to Rule 2d? 3.--to Rule 3d? 4.--to Rule 4th? 5.--to Rule
5th? 6.--to Rule 6th? 7.--to Rule 7th? 8.--to Rule 8th? 9.--to Rule 9th?
10.--to Rule 10th? 11.--to Rule 11th? 12.--to Rule 12th? 13.--to Rule 13th?
14.--to Rule 14th? 15.--to Rule 15th? 16.--to Rule 16th? 17.--to Rule 17th?
18. What says the Exception to Rule 1st of a _Long Simple Sentence?_ 19.
What says Exception 1st to Rule 2d of _Restrictive Relatives?_ 20. What
says Exception 2d to Rule 2d of _Short Terms closely Connected?_ 21. What
says Exception 3d to Rule 2d of _Elliptical Members United?_ 22. What says
Exception 1st to Rule 4th of _Two Words with Adjuncts?_ 23. What says
Exception 2d to Rule 4th of _Two Terms Contrasted?_ 24. What says Exception
3d to Rule 4th of a mere _Alternative of Words?_ 25. What says Exception
4th to Rule 4th of _Conjunctions Understood?_
LESSON III.--OF THE COMMA.
1. What rule speaks of the separation of _Words in Apposition?_ 2. What
says Exception 1st to Rule 7th of _Complex Names?_ 3. What says Exception
2d to Rule 7th of _Close Apposition?_ 4. What says Exception 3d to Rule 7th
of _a Pronoun without a Pause?_ 5. What says Exception 4th to Rule 7th of
_Names Acquired?_ 6. What says the Exception to Rule 8th of _Adjectives
Restrictive?_ 7. What is the rule which speaks of a finite _Verb
Understood?_ 8. What says the Exception to Rule 9th of a _Very Slight
Pause?_ 9. What is the Rule for the pointing of _Participles?_ 10. What
says the Exception to Rule 11th of _Participles Restrictive?_
[Now, if you please, you may correct orally, according to the formules
given, some or all of the various examples of _False Punctuation_, which
are arranged under the rules for the Comma in Section First.]
LESSON IV.--OF THE SEMICOLON.
1. What is the general use of the Semicolon? 2. How many rules are there
for the Semicolon? 3. What are their heads? 4. What says Rule 1st of
_Complex Members?_ 5. What says Rule 2d of _Simple Members?_ 6. What says
Rule 3d of _Apposition, &c.?_
[Now, if you please, you may correct orally, according to the formules
given, some or all of the various examples of _False Punctuation_, which
are arranged under the rules for the Semicolon in Section Second.]
LESSON V.--OF THE COLON.
1. What is the general use of the Colon? 2. How many rules are there for
the Colon? 3. What are their heads? 4. What says Rule 1st of _Additional
Remarks?_ 5. What says Rule 2d of _Greater Pauses?_ 6. What says Rule 3d of
_Independent Quotations?_
[Now, if you please, you may correct orally, according to the formules
given, some or all of the various examples of _False Punctuation_, which
are arranged under the rules for the Colon in Section Third.]
LESSON VI.--OF THE PERIOD.
1. What is the general use of the Period? 2. How many rules are there for
the Period? 3. What are their heads? 4. What says Rule 1st of _Distinct
Sentences?_ 5. What says Rule 2d of _Allied Sentences?_ 6. What says Rule
3d of _Abbreviations?_
[Now, if you please, you may correct orally, according to the formules
given, some or all of the various examples of _False Punctuation_, which
are arranged under the rules for the Period in Section Fourth.]
LESSON VII.--OF THE DASH.
1. What is the general use of the Dash? 2. How many rules are there for the
Dash? 3. What are their heads? 4. What says Rule 1st of _Abrupt Pauses?_ 5.
What says Rule 2d of _Emphatic Pauses?_ 6. What says Rule 3d of _Faulty
Dashes?_
[Now, if you please, you may correct orally, according to the formules
given, some or all of the various examples of _False Punctuation_, which
are arranged under the rules for the Dash in Section Fifth.]
LESSON VIII.--OF THE EROTEME.
1. What is the use of the Eroteme, or Note of Interrogation? 2. How many
rules are there for this mark? 3. What are their heads? 4. What says Rule
1st of _Questions Direct?_ 5. What says Rule 2d of _Questions United?_ 6.
What says Rule 3d of _Questions Indirect?_
[Now, if you please, you may correct orally, according to the formules
given, some or all of the various examples of _False Punctuation_, which
are arranged under the rules for the Eroteme in Section Sixth.]
LESSON IX--OF THE ECPHONEME.
1. What is the use of the Ecphoneme, or Note of Exclamation? 2. How many
rules are there for this mark? 2. What are their heads? 4. What says Rule
1st of _Interjections?_ 5. What says Rule 2d of _Invocations?_ 6. What says
Rule 3d of _Exclamatory Questions?_
[Now, if you please, you may correct orally, according to the formules
given, some or all of the various examples of _False Punctuation_, which
are arranged under the rules for the Ecphoneme in Section Seventh.]
LESSON X.--OF THE CURVES.
1. What is the use of the Curves, or Marks of Parenthesis? 2. How many
rules are there for the Curves? 3. What are their titles, or heads? 4. What
says Rule 1st of _the Parenthesis?_ 5. What says Rule 2d of _Included
Points?_
[Now, if you please, you may correct orally, according to the formules
given, some or all of the various examples of _False Punctuation_, which
are arranged under the rules for the Curves in Section Eighth.]
LESSON XI.--OF THE OTHER MARKS.
1. What is the use of the Apostrophe? 2. What is the use of the Hyphen? 3.
What is the use of the Diaeresis, or Dialysis? 4. What is the use of the
Acute Accent? 5. What is the use of the Grave Accent? 6. What is the use of
the Circumflex? 7. What is the use of the Breve, or Stenotone? 8. What is
the use of the Macron, or Macrotone? 9. What is the use of the Ellipsis, or
Suppression? 10. What is the use of the Caret? 11. What is the use of the
Brace? 12. What is the use of the Section? 13. What is the use of the
Paragraph? 14. What is the use of the Guillemets, or Quotation Points? 15.
How do we mark a quotation within a quotation? 16. What is the use of the
Crotchets, or Brackets? 17. What is the use of the Index, or Hand? 18. What
are the six Marks of Reference in their usual order? 19. How can
references be otherwise made? 20. What is the use of the Asterism, or the
Three Stars? 21. What is the use of the Cedilla?
[Having correctly answered the foregoing questions, the pupil should be
taught to apply the principles of punctuation; and, for this purpose, he
may be required to read a portion of some accurately pointed book, or may
be directed to turn to the _Fourteenth Praxis_, beginning on p. 821,--and
to assign a reason for every mark he finds.]
LESSON XII.--OF UTTERANCE.
1. What is _Utterance?_ 2. What does it include? 3. What is articulation?
4. How does articulation differ from pronunciation? 5. How does Comstock
define it? 6. What, in his view, is a good articulation? 7. How does Bolles
define articulation? 8. Is a good articulation important? 9. What are the
faults opposite to it? 10. What says Sheridan, of a good articulation? 11.
Upon what does distinctness depend? 13. Why is just articulation better
than mere loudness? 13. Do we learn to articulate in learning to speak or
read?
LESSON XIII.--OF PRONUNCIATION.
1. What is pronunciation? 2. What is it that is called _Orthoepy?_ 3. What
knowledge does pronunciation require? 4. What are the just powers of the
letters? 5. How are these learned? 6. Are the just powers of the letters in
any degree variable? 7. What is quantity? 8. Are all long syllables equally
long, and all short ones equally short? 9. What has stress of voice to do
with quantity? 10. What is accent? 11. Is every word accented? 12. Do we
ever lay two equal accents on one word? 13. Have we more than one sort of
accent? 14. Can any word have the secondary accent, and not the primary?
15. Can monosyllables have either? 16. What regulates accent? 17. What four
things distinguish the elegant speaker?
LESSON XIV.--OF ELOCUTION.
1. What is elocution? 2. What does elocution require? 3. What is emphasis?
4. What comparative view is taken of accent and emphasis? 5. How does L.
Murray connect emphasis with quantity? 6. Does emphasis ever affect accent?
7. What is the guide to a right emphasis? 8. Can one read with too many
emphases? 9. What are pauses? 10. How many and what kinds of pauses are
there? 11. What is said of the duration of pauses, and the taking of
breath? 12. After what manner should pauses be made? 13. What pauses are
particularly ungraceful? 14. What is said of rhetorical pauses? 15. How are
the harmonic pauses divided? 16. Are such pauses essential to verse?
LESSON XV.--OF ELOCUTION.
17. What are inflections? 18. What is called the rising or upward
inflection? 19. What is called the falling or downward inflection? 20. How
are these inflections exemplified? 21. How are they used in asking
questions? 22. What is said of the notation of them? 23. What constitutes a
circumflex? 24. What constitutes the rising, and what the falling,
circumflex? 25. Can you give examples? 26. What constitutes a monotone, in
elocution? 27. Which kind of inflection is said to be most common? 28.
Which is the best adapted to strong emphasis? 29. What says Comstock of
rules for inflections? 30. Is the voice to be varied for variety's sake?
31. What should regulate the inflections? 32. What is cadence? 33. What
says Rippingham about it? 34. What says Murray? 35. What are tones? 36. Why
do they deserve particular attention? 37. What says Blair about tones? 38.
What says Hiley?
LESSON XVI.--OF FIGURES.
1. What is a _Figure_ in grammar? 2. How many kinds of figures are there?
3. What is a figure of orthography? 4. What are the principal figures of
orthography? 5. What is Mimesis? 6. What is an Archaism? 7. What is a
figure of etymology? 8. How many and what are the figures of etymology? 9.
What is Aphaeresis? 10. What is Prosthesis? 11. What is Syncope? 12. What is
Apocope? 13. What is Paragoge? 14. What is Diaeresis? 15. What is Synaeresis?
16. What is Tmesis? 17. What is a figure of syntax? 18. How many and what
are the figures of syntax? 19. What is Ellipsis, in grammar? 20. Are
sentences often elliptical? 21. What parts of speech can be omitted, by
ellipsis? 22. What is Pleonasm? 23. When is this figure allowable? 24. What
is Syllepsis? 25. What is Enallage? 26. What is Hyperbaton? 27. What is
said of this figure?
LESSON XVII.--OF FIGURES.
28. What is a figure of rhetoric? 29. What peculiar name have some of
these? 30. Do figures of rhetoric often occur? 31. On what are they
founded? 32. How many and what are the principal figures of rhetoric? 33.
What is a Simile? 34. What is a Metaphor? 35. What is an Allegory? 36. What
is a Metonymy? 37. What is Synecdoche? 38. What is Hyperbole? 39. What is
Vision? 40. What is Apostrophe? 41. What is Personification? 42. What is
Erotesis? 43. What is Ecphonesis? 44. What is Antithesis? 45. What is
Climax? 46. What is Irony? 47. What is Apophasis, or Paralipsis? 48. What
is Onomatopoeia?
[Now, if you please, you may examine the quotations adopted for the
_Fourteenth Praxis_, and may name and define the various figures of grammar
which are contained therein.]
LESSON XVIII.--OF VERSIFICATION.
1. What is _Versification_? 2. What is verse, as distinguished from prose?
3. What is the rhythm of verse? 4. What is the quantity of a syllable? 5.
How are poetic quantities denominated? 6. How are they proportioned? 7.
What quantity coincides with accent or emphasis? 8. On what but the vowel
sound does quantity depend? 9. Does syllabic quantity always follow the
quality of the vowels? 10. Where is quantity variable, and where fixed, in
English? 11. What is rhyme? 12. What is blank verse? 13. What is remarked
concerning the rhyming syllables? 14. What is a stanza? 15. What uniformity
have stanzas? 16. What variety have they?
LESSON XIX.--OF VERSIFICATION.
17. Of what does a verse consist? 18. Of what does a poetic foot consist?
19. How many feet do prosodists recognize? 20. What are the principal feet
in English? 21. What is an Iambus? 22. What is a Trochee? 23. What is an
Anapest? 24. What is a Dactyl? 25. Why are these feet principal? 26. What
orders of verse arise from these? 27. Are these kinds to be kept separate?
28. What is said of the secondary feet? 29. How many and what secondary
feet are explained in this code? 30. What is a Spondee? 31. What is a
Pyrrhic? 32. What is a Moloss? 33. What is a Tribrach? 34. What is an
Amphibrach? 35. What is an Amphimac? 36. What is a Bacchy? 37. What is an
Antibachy? 38. What is a Caesura?
LESSON XX.--OF VERSIFICATION.
39. What are the principal kinds, or orders, of verse? 40. What other
orders are there? 41. Does the composite order demand any uniformity? 42.
Do the simple orders admit any diversity? 43. What is meant by _scanning_
or _scansion_? 44. What mean the technical words, _catalectic,
acatalectic_, and _hypermeter_? 45. In scansion, why are the principal feet
to be preferred to the secondary? 46. Can a single foot be a line? 47. What
are the several combinations that form dimeter, trimeter, tetrameter,
pentameter, hexameter, heptameter, and octometer? 48. What syllables have
stress in a pure iambic line? 49. What are the several measures of iambic
verse? 50. What syllables have stress in a pure trochaic line? 51. Can it
be right, to regard as hypermeter the long rhyming syllables of a line? 52.
Is the number of feet in a line to be generally counted by that of the long
syllables? 53. What are the several measures of trochaic verse?
LESSON XXI.--OF VERSIFICATION.
54. What syllables have stress in a pure anapestic line? 55. What variation
may occur in the first foot? 56. Is this frequent? 57. Is it ever uniform?
58. What is the result of a uniform mixture? 59. Is the anapest adapted to
single rhyme? 60. May a surplus ever make up for a deficiency? 61. Why are
the anapestic measures few? 62. How many syllables are found in the
longest? 63. What are the several measures of anapestic verse? 64. What
syllables have stress in a pure dactylic line? 65. With what does
single-rhymed dactylic end? 66. Is dactylic verse very common? 67. What are
the several measures of dactylic verse? 68. What is composite verse? 69.
Must composites have rhythm? 70. Are the kinds of composite verse numerous?
71. Why have we no exact enumeration of the measures of this order? 72.
Does this work contain specimens of different kinds of composite verse?
[It may now be required of the pupil to determine, by reading and scansion,
the metrical elements of any good English poetry which may be selected for
the purpose--the feet being marked by pauses, and the long syllables by
stress of voice. He may also correct orally the few _Errors of Metre_ which
are given in the Fifth Section of Chapter IV.]
CHAPTER VI.--FOR WRITING.
EXERCISES IN PROSODY.
[Fist] [When the pupil can readily answer all the questions on Prosody, and
apply the rules of punctuation to any composition in which the points are
rightly inserted, he should _write out_ the following exercises, supplying
what is required, and correcting what is amiss. Or, if any teacher choose
to exercise his classes _orally_, by means of these examples, he can very
well do it; because, to read words, is always easier than to write them,
and even points or poetic feet may be quite as readily named as written.]
EXERCISE I.--PUNCTUATION.
_Copy the following sentences, and insert the_ COMMA _where it is
requisite_.
EXAMPLES UNDER RULE I.--OF SIMPLE SENTENCES.
"The dogmatist's assurance is paramount to argument." "The whole course of
his argumentation comes to nothing." "The fieldmouse builds her garner
under ground."
EXC.--"The first principles of almost all sciences are few." "What he gave
me to publish was but a small part." "To remain insensible to such
provocation is apathy." "Minds ashamed of poverty would be proud of
affluence." "To be totally indifferent to praise or censure is a real
defect in character."--_Wilson's Punctuation_, p. 38.
UNDER RULE II.--OF SIMPLE MEMBERS.
"I was eyes to the blind and feet was I to the lame." "They are gone but
the remembrance of them is sweet." "He has passed it is likely through
varieties of fortune." "The mind though free has a governor within itself."
"They I doubt not oppose the bill on public principles." "Be silent be
grateful and adore." "He is an adept in language who always speaks the
truth." "The race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong."
EXC. I.--"He that has far to go should not hurry." "Hobbes believed the
eternal truths which he opposed." "Feeble are all pleasures in which the
heart has no share." "The love which survives the tomb is one of the
noblest attributes of the soul."--_Wilson's Punctuation_, p. 38.
EXC. II.--"A good name is better than precious ointment." "Thinkst thou
that duty shall have dread to speak?" "The spleen is seldom felt where
Flora reigns."
UNDER RULE III.--OF MORE THAN TWO WORDS.
"The city army court espouse my cause." "Wars pestilences and diseases are
terrible instructors." "Walk daily in a pleasant airy and umbrageous
garden." "Wit spirits faculties but make it worse." "Men wives and
children stare cry out and run." "Industry, honesty, and temperance are
essential to happiness."--_Wilson's Punctuation_, p. 29. "Honor, affluence,
and pleasure seduce the heart."--_Ib._, p. 31.
UNDER RULE IV.--OF TWO TERMS CONNECTED.
"Hope and fear are essentials in religion." "Praise and adoration are
perfective of our souls." "We know bodies and their properties most
perfectly." "Satisfy yourselves with what is rational and attainable."
"Slowly and sadly we laid him down."
EXC. I.--"God will rather look to the inward motions of the mind than to
the outward form of the body." "Gentleness is unassuming in opinion and
temperate in zeal."
EXC. II.--"He has experienced prosperity and adversity." "All sin
essentially is and must be mortal." "Reprove vice but pity the offender."
EXC. III.--"One person is chosen chairman or moderator." "Duration or time
is measured by motion." "The governor or viceroy is chosen annually."
EXC. IV.--"Reflection reason still the ties improve." "His neat plain
parlour wants our modern style." "We are fearfully wonderfully made."
UNDER RULE V.--OF WORDS IN PAIRS.
"I inquired and rejected consulted and deliberated." "Seed-time and harvest
cold and heat summer and winter day and night shall not cease."
EXERCISE II.--PUNCTUATION.
_Copy the following sentences, and insert the_ COMMA _where it is
requisite_.
EXAMPLES UNDER RULE VI.--OF WORDS PUT ABSOLUTE.
"The night being dark they did not proceed." "There being no other coach we
had no alternative." "Remember my son that human life is the journey of a
day." "All circumstances considered it seems right." "He that overcometh to
him will I give power." "Your land strangers devour it in your presence."
"Ah sinful nation a people laden with iniquity!"
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